Cummings new assistant superintendent for Gov. Wentworth schools

WOLFEBORO — At a recent Governor Wentworth Regional School Board meeting, new hires were announced to fill the assistant superintendent and special education director positions.

Some positions will open when current Assistant Superintendent Kathy Cuddy-Egbert is promoted to the role of superintendent, SAU 49 announced.

The Governor Wentworth Regional School District School Board voted unanimously to elect Heather Cummings as assistant superintendent, filling the position that will be vacated on July 1.

Cummings is currently the director of curriculum for the Governor Wentworth district and has been serving it for the last five years. Before that she served as a middle school teacher for several years and as the coordinator of curriculum for the Shaker Regional School District in Belmont.

Cumming has been active on several state task forces including New Hampshire’s “Task Force on Accountability.” She has also been active in state organizations, serving on the Executive Board of the New Hampshire Association of School Administrators since 2007, where she also served as president from 2011 to 2012. In 2008, she received the award for “Outstanding Service from the NHSAA.”

“I am delighted with the board’s decision to elect Heather to fill the role of assistant superintendent,” Cuddy-Egbert said. “She is very well regarded in the district and throughout the state. I couldn’t be happier. It was an excellent decision … We are going to have a great team at the SAU.”

Susan Merrell was also unanimously elected as the district’s special education director. Merrell is a longtime staff member of the district who began her work there as a fifth-grade teacher at Tuftonboro. She was also a counselor for the New Durham School and Tuftonboro Central School. Merrell has additionally served as counselor at Ossipee Central School for students with emotional disabilities, as a behavior consultant for the district and as the “out of district” case manager for special education. For the last four years, Merrell has served as the special education coordinator for the district.

The school board says they were seeking “a person with a strong knowledge of special education law, curriculum and instruction as it relates to students with educational handicaps and the ability to bring teams together to work on behalf of students,” according to a press release.

“Susan brings strong background knowledge of the district and of special education to her new role,” Cuddy-Egbert said. “Over the past four years, she has proved herself to be a valuable asset to the district, an advocate for students and a resource for teachers and administrators. I am thrilled that the board has appointed Susan to this position she will do a wonderful job.”

Merrell will also begin working in her new capacity on July 1, when Cuddy-Egbert will assume her promotion.